Water cooler for locomotives



C. KOHLER WATER COOLER FOR LOOOMOTIVES April 21,1925.

Filed Dec. 13 1921 To all whom- ?t may concern:

Patented ApnZl, 1925.

CONRAD KOIHLER, or ZURICH, sWirrznn-LAND.

VATER COOLER FOR'LOCOMOTIVES.

Application filed December 13, 1921. Serial No. 522,106.

Be it known that I, Corman Koi-inne, a citizen of the Republic ofSwitzerland, resid'- "ing at Zurich, Switzerland, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in later Coolers for Locomotives, .ot` whichthe following' is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying i drawing.

The invention relates to improvements in a cross-current recooliiiginstallation for 1 recooling the cooling" water ot steamcon- (lensingplants on vehicles.

@ross-current recoclingV installations are already known which'satisfactorily `permits an effective recoolingl 'et the cooling' waterof steam condensing plants on vehicles at determined outi'iuts and atdetermined runninga speeds of the vehicle. However these arrangementsfail to give satisfactory results when they havel *to cool the coolingvwater 'for condensers oi. steam power engines having` an output thatisdouble of that of the engines which are ordinarily used or when thespeed of, the train is considerably smaller than the normal ruimingspeed. ln the first case, i. e.v when -the output ot' the steam-powerengine is very great the quantity of the cooling; water tobe recooled isso great that it cannot be cooled down to the required degree in thecomparatively small spaceavailable for recooling' purposes on therecooling' device. An increase of the recooliiig' eiiect could beattained theoretically by increasing the cross sectional area `throughwhich the cooling` air flowsythe railway clearance gauge, however7limits an increase in that direction. On the other hand said increase inthe coolingeffect could be attained'by leiigtlieningthe air channel.

too great.lengthening of this channelis however useless as the aircannotabsorb any Further heat from the cooling water after having beensaturated, so that near the exit end cita too long channel the alreadysaturated air would not have any cooling action. ou `the waterlto berecooled. It the running speed is low7 the quantity oi air coming intocontact with cooling water falling through the air channel of therecoolinp; device in a `rainslilife distribution is insuiiicient foreffecttion for steam engines operating with condensation on vehicleswhich makes possible the reeooling of the cooling` water totherequireddegree even inthe case in which the output of' the steam engineis continuously very great as well as `in the casein which the running1speed oit thervehicle is continuously low at ther normal output of thesteam engine. i

Toth'is end the cross-current reeooling` iiistallation is, according tothe invention subdivided into a number of cross-current recoolers, eachof which is traversed by a sepa-v rate air current uipon the running ofthe 'vehicle.` The water to be recooled may preterably `be led to thesingle `cross-current recoolers in parallel connection. lilith such aninstallation large quantities of heat may be absorbed as theair-curren`ts which are independent of each other and flow through `theseveral cross-current recoolers have only lto travel over comparativelyshort distances and therefore the danger does not exist that alreadybefore they havereached the exit end or' the airchannels saidair-currents are saturated and are no longer effective for recoolingfthe cooling water. v

The cross-current recoolers may each be mounted upon 'a separate vehicleor they 'may be arranged'on a common vehicle. The

per part of the vehicle so that the cooling` air leaving the troutvehicle cannot he drawn into the cooling channel oit the following`vehicle. n

Several. constructioiial orari-nales cgt the iustallation according tothe invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a cross-currentrecooling;` installa tion havin g two cross-current recoolers eacharranged upon a separate vehicle,

Fig. y2 is'l a plan viewof the installation shown in Fig. l and Fig. 3 asection along line IHM-Ill of Fig. l; V

Fig. a illustrates a vertical longitudinal section oilI ,two l'1.oss.-ciirre-nt recoolers mounted upon 2a single vehicle and F is aside view on a smaller scale of an installation with one cooler in frontAand one in the rear of the locomotive.

In the installation illustrated in Fips, 1 .to 3, 1 and 2 denote twocross-current recoolers each ol which is mounted uipon .a separatevehicle and novided with air channels 3 and -l respectively extendingsubstantially in the direction o' running indicated Eby the arrow rFhedistributor for the cooling` water ito he `rec-ooled comp-rises -anumber of perforated pipes 5 and a channel 16 having in i-ts verticalsection, transverse -to the direction .of traveling, the shape Aof avaulted door. The channels 16 are connected to pipes 7 which in theirturn are connected to a conduit 8 supplying; the water to be recooled.ln ythis way Ithe cooling` water lto he recooled flows to the coolers 1and 2 in parallel connection. 1() denotes a coal bunker and 11 an airchannel extending` in trent of the air channel 4. In the rea-r part oftthe cooler 1 an air channel 141 is provided which communicates with theatmosphere at its lower end and which extends toward the rear withrespect to .the direction oi' running, where it opens into the airchannel 11; the air channel 14 tapering` down toward-s the rear. lnsidethe :channel 1l a fan 15 is provided which forcibly supplies the airchannels 11, 4l with a portion ot the cooling air `drawn from belowVwhilst t-he other portion ol the air enters .the channel 11 from thesides. The exit oit the cooling` air flowing` through .the coolers inthe direction ot the arrow-s B occurs fat the npper part orP the coolersAso that -the discharged air of the front cool-e1' iis not drawn intothe cooling channel off the following` cooler. In consequence of thesubdivision of the installation into a number of cross-current coolerseach ot' which is traversed by its own faircurrent when the locomotiveis running, it is possible in such an installation Ito coolcomparatively large quantities of water .to a determined degree and thateven yat comparatively small running` speeds.

Obviously the installation may comprise more than two coolers eachmounted upon a separate vehicle. Instead of arranging sach Vthelocomotive that is sutlieient to cause a suiliciently large quantity ofair to pass through the air channel of the rear cooler without using;vmechanical means `for supplying' air.

Instead et the lan 15 any other mechanical means for supplying air maybe utilized.

Further it may be pointed out that the water to be recooled may besupplied to the single cross-.current recoolers ot the installation inany other manner differing from that shown without altering' the scopeof the present invention. Finally :attention may be called to the l'actthat the various cross-current rain-coolers formi-ntev the installationn'iiay each be mounted upon a single vehicle (18) in the manner shown inFiga.

I claim:

1. ln a water cooling installation tor condensing plants of streamdriven vehicles, a plurality of successive air channels disposedlongitudinally, means to supply water to be `cooled by evaporation toeach of said channels, dellecting means at the discharge end one of thechannels to deflect moisture laden vair past the entrance to the nextsucceeding .channel land to direct air for evaporation into the entranceto said next succeedingr channel.

2. In a water cooling` installation for condensinp,` plants of steamdriven vehicles, a plurality of successive air channels disposedlongitudinally, means to supply water to be cooled by evaporation toeach oit said channel-s, a deil-erting wall at the discharge end ot oneot the channels, said wall being` arranged to deflect moisture laden.air on one surf-ace thereof past the entrance to the next succeeding'channel and on its opposite surface to direct air for evaporation intothe entrance to .the next succeeding channel.

In testimony whereof l aiftx my si gn ature.

' connai) noi-nani.

